The thing they put in the ice cream you buy from the store is called Colco. I don't know what it's made out of but I know it's not a very healthy product. Many of the people I've interviewed in a drug and alcohol rehab center said that they've tried drugs that contained this Colco paste. So it's not only bad for your health, it's also addictive.

Try adding karo syrup (corn syrup) to the ice cream mix as it is churning. A 1/2 cup per quart of ice cream is a good start. The corn syrup, much like alchohol, will prevent the ice cream from freezing rock hard as long as it is kept at normal freezing tempuratures ( 20 degrees or so) typical of a household freezer. Anything colder and it won't matter what you add it will still freeze solid.

I recently made a batch of excellent ice cream at home. As usual, it turned rock hard once it was in the freezer. I know this is normal for homemade ice cream. But I want to know how commercial ice cream is made softer, and if there's any way to replicate that at home. Even if it involves frightening chemical additives ... seriously. I'm willing to risk my health for soft ice cream.

I believe the reason is the size of the ice crystals in the commercial ice cream. They have facilities to whip the ice cream under conditions that are colder than those of your kitchen. You may have noticed that the commercial ice cream gets hard after the first time you have some. That is because once it's taken out of the freezer environment, some of the ice melts and when it freezes again, it forms much larger crystals.

My grandmother has this old recipe that I always love when it comes to ice cream. She uses heavy cream and she says the secret is on the mixing. She uses hand mixer to achieve her desired output. For the commercially sold ice cream, I guess they are also using lots of cream and they have already perfected the time of mixing to achieve the desired texture.

I've always been told that the best and only way to get actual homemade soft and creamy ice cream (not gellato (eggs added) or sorbet (fruit juices)) is to add 1 packet of unflavored gelatin per each gallon of ice cream ingredients. (It's the trick that places such as ben and jerry's and cold stone creamery use...) It eliminates ice crystals and adds bonding agent for densely packed creamy soft ice cream

Also, I use whole eggs, separating them and pouring hot custard over beaten egg whites prior to chilling. I also whip cream before adding to custard. When I have made recipe with more cream than milk, end result is ice cream that stays easily scoopable from freezer.

I heard they constantly churn the ice cream. I do not know if this is to make the ice cream really creamy or to make it soft.

If your ice cream is still hard, put it in the microwave for a few seconds. Kid you not that is what I used to do when I was a youngster at work. image putting 2 gallons ice cream block into a giant microwave. that;s right. it happened. along with taking a sledge hammer to the frozen block of concentrated orange juice.